Quite by chance, in April of 2004 I was attending a Boston Whaler-sponsored Rendezvous event in Stuart, Florida, held at the Marine Max dealer there. We were doing some boating in the area, and passed through the railroad bridge heading toward the Atlantic and the St. Lucie Inlet. The bridge was in the open position, and it looked very old, with some rust showing. I remarked that the bridge looked like it had not closed in ages. Ironically, when we were returning to the marina and approaching the bridge, it was closed and a train was crossing. I was really quite surprised, because the appearance of the old iron bridge did not betray its still-operational status. Perhaps I was under-estimating the ability of iron and steel to still operate when continuously exposed to saltwater.
There is a long tradition regarding the operation of railroad bridges that impede boat traffic on the waterway the bridge spans: a railroad bridge is normally left in the open position, where it allows boat traffic to pass, until a train is approaching. This practice was in place for years with the St. Lucie River railroad bridge. Until recently the rail traffic on the bridge was mostly freight trains and a daily Amtrak train or two.
This operating method for railroad bridges is the opposite of highway bridges crossing a water way. The highway bridge is normally kept closed to allow automobile and truck traffic to cross, and the bridge opens for boat traffic only at a scheduled time or at some defined times will open on demand from a boat.
The FEC railroad bridge near Stuart crosses the route of the Okeechobee Waterway. The operation of the bridge is described in the Coast Pilot 4, at 33 CFR 117.317(c):
(c) Florida East Coast Railroad bridge, mile 7.4 at Stuart. The draw shall operate as follows:
(1) The bridge is not constantly tended.
(2) The draw is normally in the fully open position, displaying flashing green lights to indicate that vessels may pass.
(3) When a train approaches the bridge, the navigation lights go to flashing red and a horn sounds four blasts, pauses, and then repeats four blasts. After an eight minute delay, the draw lowers and locks, providing the scanning equipment reveals nothing under the draw. The draw remains down for a period of eight minutes or while the approach track circuit is occupied.
(4) After the train has cleared, the draw opens and the lights return to flashing green.
The BRIGHTLINE high-speed passenger rail system plans to have trains running every hour, one southbound and one northbound, which will substantially increase the amount of time the bridge will need to be lowered for train traffic. The single track will also be used by freight trains. Coordination of rail traffic at the one-track bridge will require very careful train dispatching and control to avoid a bottle neck. Also, any trains backed up waiting to transit the bridge may also impede highway traffic, as the rail line has many grade crossings with adjacent roads. The longer the bridge can remain down and trains can cross, the better for the railroad operation, both for BRIGHTLINE passenger and Florida East Coast (FEC) freight traffic.
Naturally, boaters don't like the increase in railroad traffic as it results in much more frequent bridge openings. And although the BRIGHTLINE passenger trains can operate at 110-MPH, they have to slow to 25 to 30-MPH at the river due to a sharp curve in the track just north of the bridge. One the other hand, a BRIGHTLINE train is usually only four cars and two locomotives, so its time actually spent on the bridge is comparably short compared to the time needed for the waterway signals to change to red, the bridge to close, the proper alignment verified, the track signals changed to clear, and the train to cross. Then the track signals must be set to STOP, the bridge raised, and the waterway signals set to proceed. The train might be on the bridge for a minute or less in what becomes a ten minute sequence of closing and reopening the bridge.
The U.S. Coast Guard is required by law to control the operation of bridges over waterways, specified in 33 CFR 499, which is excerpted below.
33CFR499 wrote:It shall be the duty of all persons owning, operating, and tending the drawbridges built prior to August 18, 1894, or which may thereafter be built across the navigable rivers and other waters of the United States, to open, or cause to be opened, the draws of such bridges under such rules and regulations as in the opinion of the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating the public interests require to govern the opening of drawbridges for the passage of vessels and other water crafts, and such rules and regulations, when so made and published, shall have the force of law.
Regarding the operation of the St. Lucie River railroad bridge since the advent of the daily BRIGHTLINE trains, there has been a lot of controversy, with boaters raising objections to the amount of time the bridge is now in the closed position. The U.S.C.G just announced a new tentative bridge operating schedule on August 11, 2023. Here is a link to the Federal Register article in pdf format:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR- ... -17222.pdf
The new temporary operating plan for the FEC railroad bridge is described as follows:
latest USCG temporary ruling wrote:Under this temporary deviation, the FEC Railroad Bridge will be maintained in the fully open-to-navigation position, except during periods when it is closed for the passage of train traffic, to conduct inspections, and to perform maintenance and repairs authorized by the Coast Guard. However, the bridge will not be closed for more than 50 consecutive minutes in any given hour during daytime operations (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and for more than 8 total hours during daytime operations (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.).
Notwithstanding the above paragraph, the drawbridge will open and remain open to navigation for a fixed 10-minute period at the top of each hour from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. In addition, the drawbridge will open and remain open to navigation for a fixed 15-minute period as outlined in the table below:TABLE 1
Monday through Friday
8:55 a.m. through 9:10 a.m.
Saturday and Sunday
8:55 a.m. through 9:10 a.m.
9:55 a.m. through 10:10 a.m.
10:55 a.m. through 11:10 a.m.
12:55 p.m. through 1:10 p.m.
4:55 p.m. through 5:10 p.m.
From 10:01 p.m. until 5:59 a.m. daily, the drawbridge will remain in the fully open-to-navigation position, except during periods when it is closed for the passage of train traffic, to conduct inspections, and to perform maintenance and repairs authorized by the Coast Guard. The drawbridge will not be closed more than 60 consecutive minutes.
The drawbridge will be tended from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily. The bridge tender will monitor VHF–FM channels 9 and 16 and will provide estimated times of drawbridge openings and closures, or any operational information requested. Operational information will be provided 24 hours a day by telephone at (772) 403–1005. The drawbridge owner will maintain a mobile application. The drawbridge owner will publish drawbridge opening times, and the drawbridge owner will provide timely updates to schedules, including but not limited to, impacts due to emergency circumstances, inspections, maintenance, and repairs authorized by the Coast Guard. Signs will be posted and visible to marine traffic, displaying VHF radio contact information, application information, and the telephone number for the bridge tender.
The BRIGHTLINE railroad has performed considerable upgrades to the bridge, improving its reliability, replacing electrical wiring, refurbishing major structural components, and adding a building to house a bridge tender to oversee operation, as is now a requirement in the the latest USCG ruling.
The fundamental problem with a rail line crossing water is the need to avoid a change in elevation of the railroad. Unlike automobiles and trucks which can easily maintain speed uphill to ascend a ramp to a bridge to cross the water, trains abhor any grades, uphill or downhill. This results in a railroad bridge crossing the water with very little elevation. The vertical clearance under the railroad bridge when closed is only six feet, and that varies with the state of the tide. (See U.S. Coast Pilot 4, Chapter 10, page 325.) This means any time the bridge is down, only the very smallest boats would be able to transit under the bridge. And doing so while a train was passing overhead might be rather scary. The horizontal clearance is only 46 feet, so simultaneous two-way boat traffic though the bridge opening may be limited to only smaller boats.
There is little chance that an elevated railroad crossing over the St. Lucie River is a solution. To maintain a very moderate grade, say a 1-percent grade, and get a new vertical clearance of say 25-feet, the railroad would have to begin the elevation change from the current grade at a distance of 2,500-feet from the river both north and south. This would involve creating a mile of elevated trackage, which would be an enormous expense. A more workable solution would be replace the current bridge with a two-track bridge. With very precise rail traffic scheduling, a two-track bridge would reduce the time need for the bridge to be lowered for trains by almost half, assuming trains would meet at the bridge almost simultaneously, getting, in effect, two trains for the price of one bridge opening.